When the Stars Align

My Dark-Haired Peter Pan

"Carter," Garrett spat.

Will was suddenly at Garrett's throat with his sword. Christopher moved towards him.

"Back off," Garrett snapped to Christopher. "He's mine."

He turned back to Will and drew his own sword. "You want to play Carter? Let's play."

Garrett swung but Will parried. I could tell already that Will was working up a sweat already. He was strong, but Garrett was fast. Compared to him, Will was like molasses. He struggled to keep up. I strained against my bonds in vain. Jase was struggling to stay upright. Blood had soaked through his shirt where the bullet had hit him.

Garrett found an opening and swiftly disarmed Will. His sword clattered against the far wall. I suddenly heard a commotion in the hallway. Garrett turned his head to see three more Obscurité enter the room, one with Avery in their arms, one with Josh, and one with Carrie. All three had their wrists bound. Will took his chance and lunged at Garrett. He knocked the sword out of his hand and was able to tackle him onto the ground. He threw a punch but Garrett somehow managed to dodge it.

Garrett shoved Will off of him and slammed him against the concrete wall. He crumpled against the wall, his eyes going out of focus. I felt sick to my stomach.

"Will!" I heard myself scream.

The two men that had been holding onto Jase allowed him to slide to the ground and ran to seize Will. They both dragged him to his feet. I filled with rage at the sight of Jase bleeding on the floor; Avery, Josh, and Carrie held hostage, and Will left subconscious of what was happening. I felt my blood pulsing through my body to my fingertips, my skin growing hot to the touch. The palms of my hands grew warmer. I called out to the warmth and fed it.

Garrett approached Will, his sword back in his hand. Will's hair stuck to his face with sweat. The men restraining him forced him to his knees.

"Any last words, Carter?" Garrett asked grinning from ear to ear.

Will spat blood onto the floor in front of Garrett's feet. My heart contracted. I could hear the crackle of a spark until it grew into a small fire in the palm of my hand. I fed it to the ropes that bound my wrist until I was able to break free. Garrett raised the sword directly above Will's beating heart.

"Stop!" I yelled tackling Garrett to the ground.

I punched him right in the nose before more Obscurités flooded into the room. They grabbed at me as I threw blows in every direction. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Jase slowly creeping over to Will's sword that lay unnoticed in the corner. I moved swiftly, dodging grasping hands and swinging swords. Will slammed his elbow back into one of his guard's stomach knocking the breath out of him and turned to sock the other one. I could see Jase reaching for the sword as Garrett kicked it out of his grasp. His nose was swollen and bleeding, and he looked angrier than ever. He retrieved the sword and approached Will grabbing him by his shirt collar. Will took another swing at Garrett but he dodged it easily.

I screamed as Garrett thrust his sword right into Will's abdomen, or at least where it should have been. Instead, the sword only met air. Will was hovering in the air a few feet away. He flew around the room dodging sword looking like a dark-haired Peter Pan. One of the Obscurités grabbed him by the ankle and yanked him to the ground. He tumbled onto the floor as more Obscurités surrounded him, pulling him to his feet. Garrett was there with a sword pointed directly at Will as the others restrained him. I lunged at Garrett, throwing blow after blow.

Will thrashed to escape the Obscurités grip. One of them kicked him in the ribs, hard. Anger flamed inside of me. My skin grew hot to the touch to the point where Garrett jumped back in pain. I summoned a flaming ball of fire and threw it as hard as I could in his direction. He screamed as he fell on the ground, writhing in pain. I grabbed the sword on the ground where he had dropped it. It burst into flames as I grabbed it. I took a swing or two at the men restraining Will but they smartly ran off in no time. I summoned another fireball but didn't throw it. All the other guards ran. Will helped me untie Avery, Josh, and Carrie before running to Jase.

"Oh my god, Jase, I'm so sorry," I said examining his bullet wound. I ripped the sleeve of my shirt off and tied it around the wound to stop the bleeding for now.

"I'm fine, okay? But we need to get out of here before the come back," he replied.

I nodded. I raised my sword and led the way back down the long corridor, Will directly beside me, then Jase and Carrie, then Avery and Josh bringing up the back. We moved quickly, knowing more Obscurités were on the way. They were. We had just ascended the stairs when they came rounding the corner. There were about a dozen or so of them. They came running as soon as they spotted us. I wiped out two or three with my sword that was still in flames. We killed them all except for one who had retreated back down the hall. My stomach turned to knots as I stared at the fallen Obscurités, their blood on my hands.

"Remember," Will whispered into my ear. "In all the ways that count, they're not human."

I nodded as we hurried off and out of the front doors.

"Stop them!" yelled someone from behind. We ran into the darkness of midnight, the stars being our only light.